Barbie, Klaus

Barbie, Klaus (1913–1991) Gestapo chief in Lyon, France Dubbed the "Butcher of Lyon" because of his role in the deportation and execution of French Jews, resistance partisans, and others while he was chief of the Gestapo in Lyon from 1942 to 1944, Barbie proved highly adept at escaping postwar prosecution for his crimes and, with such figures as Adolf Eichmann, became a symbol for the pursuit of justice for, and remembrance of, the horrors of the Holocaust. It is believed that Barbie was directly responsible for the deaths of approximately 4,000 and the deportation of an additional 7,500 persons. Born in Bad Godesberg, Germany, Barbie became, like many German boys, a member of the Hitler Youth. Proving especially enthusiastic, he joined in 1935 the Sicherheitsdienst—the SD, or Security Service—of the Schutzstaffel (SS). The SD was closely related to the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, and Barbie was seconded, or transferred, from the SD to the Gestapo while serving in the conquered Netherlands during the early phases of Germany's western European campaign. In 1942, he was promoted to chief of Gestapo Department IV in Lyon, France. As Gestapo chief, Barbie was responsible for suppressing the work of the French Resistance and for carrying out the deportation (for transportation to concentration and extermination camps) of Jews and other "undesirables." Barbie was especially zealous and not only authorized the extensive use of torture of prisoners, but, during interrogations, typically administered the torture personally. He also ordered the execution of thousands accused of resistance activity or of supporting such activity. Among his victims were many women and children. Most infamously, Barbie was accused, after the war, of having personally ordered the deportation of 44 Jewish children, ages three to 13, together with their five teachers, to Auschwitz, where they were all subsequently murdered. Barbie also arrested the French Resistance leader Jean Moulin, whom he and his men tortured with the utmost barbarity, forcing red-hot needles under his fingernails and breaking his knuckles by putting his fingers through the hinged side of a door and repeatedly slamming it shut. His wrists were broken with screw-levered handcuffs, and he was whipped and beaten. He refused to betray any ofhis resistance associates and finally slipped into a coma. In this state, Barbie exhibited him to other resistance leaders who were under interrogation at Gestapo headquarters. Indeed, Barbie kept Moulin on display in an office adjacent to his, his comatose body laid out on a chaise lounge. He soon died from his injuries. For his "work" with Moulin, Barbie was awarded—in person, by Adolf Hitler— the Iron Cross, First Class, with Swords. After the war, Klaus Barbie was arrested. Despite the western Allies' official policy of "denazification," Barbie was seen as a valuable intelligence asset and worked for the British in counterintelligence until 1947, when he was recruited by American counterintelligence agents to penetrate communist cells in the German Communist Party. American officials quietly shielded Barbie from prosecution for war crimes, and, with American aid, he avoided arrest in France in 1950 and was resettled in Bolivia with his wife and children. From 1951, he lived as a businessman in the South American country under the name Klaus Altmann. The "Nazi hunters" Beate and Serge Klarsfeld identified him in Bolivia about 1971, and a movement was begun to bring about his extradition to France. Extradition negotiations with the Bolivian government dragged on before he was finally extradited in February 1983. In August of that year, the United States made a formal apology to France for having aided in Barbie's escape. Although postwar French military tribunals had twice sentenced Barbie to death, he was not brought to trial again until July 3, 1987. During this proceeding, Barbie expressed no remorse. Convicted of crimes against humanity, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and died on September 25, 1991, in prison of cancer. Further reading: Beattie, John. The Life and Career of Klaus Barbie: An Eyewitness Record. London: Methuen, 1984; Dabringhaus, Erhard. Klaus Barbie: The Shocking Story of How the U.S. Used This Nazi War Criminal As an Intelligence Agent. New York: Acropolis Books, 1984; Murphy, Brendan. The Butcher of Lyon: The Story of Infamous Nazi Klaus Barbie. New York: HarperCollins, 1983; Ophuls, Marcel. Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie. New York: Holiday House, 2004; Paris, Erna. Unhealed Wounds: France and the Klaus Barbie Affair. Berkeley, Calif.: Publishers Group West, 1986. barrage balloon Barrage balloons were unmanned, tethered, blimplike, lighter-than-air craft employed as a defense against low-flying enemy aircraft. Their tethers were made of stout wire cable, which presented a significant hazard to airplanes flying low for strafing or dive bombing attacks. Both the Allies and the Axis used them, generally deploying them above vulnerable or valuable targets, including buildings and ships. They were especially widely deployed throughout Great Britain, including during the Battle of Britain, where they proved quite effective. During February–March 1941, barrage balloons were responsible for the loss of seven German aircraft. With the introduction of the unmanned V-1 buzz bomb, barrage balloons were even more effective, accounting for the loss of 231 of the missiles before the end of the war. U.S. forces experimented with deploying barrage balloons in the Pacific at Bougainville in November 1943, when they were flown above landing craft. However, rather than protecting the landing craft, the balloons tended to betray the position of the vessels to Japanese reconnaissance flights, and their use was immediately discontinued.